Cafe de Paris to Open at Highland Park Shopping Mall

THE most exciting thing happening in my hood in the next few months, is the opening of a branch of Cafe de Paris at Highland Park shopping mall, on the corner of Arcturus and Enterprise Roads.

Trendy yuzu eclair at Cafe de Paris

Owner Marc Banville, who left Paris in 2011, established Cafe de Paris in Churchill Avenue as the go-to place for a freshly-baked croissant and perfectly brewed cup of coffee. A perfectionist, M. Banville is skilled in the process of making the perfect dough to make a real French croissant. Awake in the midnight hour, he laminates the yeast-leavened dough with multiple layers of butter, until finally the croissants are baked and ready for breakfast at 7 o’clock in the morning.

‘Serious’ hamburger at Cafe de Paris

Croissants are not the only delights to be had at Cafe de Paris; in addition, Banville, a master patissier, has created a multitude of delicious pastries such as lemon meringue tarts, strawberry tarts, macarons and millefeuilles. If your taste buds have wearied of supermarket sliced bread, treat yourself to a crusty French baguette (long loaf of bread, crisp on the outside, soft within), or pain de campagne, a rustic French sourdough bread. A baguette is best eaten the day it is baked, whereas the sourdough, if carefully wrapped, will stay fresh for two or three days.

During the quiet days of lockdown, Marc was occupied designing and equipping a state-of-the-art commercial kitchen adjacent to Cafe de Paris. With the assistance of Itayi Tenga, who worked for several years with Executive Chef Chris Gonzo at Meikles Hotel, he has added French flair to Zimbabwean tastes, creating an irresistible  selection of lunch time dishes, with many alternatives to the chicken and chips and pizzas on offer every where else.

Salade Nordique at Cafe de Paris

On Youth Day, George and I joined a steady stream of patrons for lunch at Cafe de Paris. Having seen a picture of Salade Nordique ($12) on Instagram (social media such a great way to promote your business!) I was keen to try this delectable and colourful salad. Who would have thought that a dish with so few ingredients – lettuce, prawns, smoked salmon and cherry tomatoes – would taste so good? Bite-sized pieces of green and red leaf lettuce were layered with numerous flavoursome prawns and succulent curls of smoked salmon, with the occasional glimpse of a ruby red cherry tomato. A sauce vinaigrette on the side contained just the right blend of extra-virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar and seasoning, and a generous pat of chilled butter accompanied two slices of a baguette, cut at an angle.

George is an authority on hamburgers, and the burger gourmand ($12) came up to expectations. The beef patty, layered with red onion compote, cheddar cheese, gherkins and lettuce, enclosed in a home made burger bun, served with a mushroom dipping sauce and hand cut chips, matches its description as a ‘serious burger’.

Steak lovers will be unable to resist the 1kg tomahawk steak ($30) seasoned with thyme and served with sauce béarnaise and Parisian fried potatoes, and said to be ‘a must to share’ for two. Presented on a wooden steak board, it is then sliced and served in style.

A classic French dessert, not to be missed, is an airy, crispy and flaky mille feuille, a cake made of layers of puff pastry and vanilla pastry cream. If you’re feeling adventurous, try a yuzu meringue eclair. The cream filling in this trendy dessert is flavoured with yuzu, a citrusy Japanese fruit similar to a naartjie, while the burnished meringue swirls on top take this gateau to another level.

Marc Banville promises that the new branch at Highlands Park shopping mall will have ‘a new range of artisanal bread,  confectionery and patisserie’, not to mention exceptional pies, quiches and sandwiches. If you can’t fit a trip to Paris into your schedule this year, Cafe de Paris will provide a very satisfying alternative.

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